


Find the Answer Sheet

by Hinarah59



Category: Persona 5
Genre: But no one finds out he's a Sakura until later chapters, In which Goro is Futaba's half sibling, M/M, Summaries are curses I tell u, Wtf is that title haha, You don't see Akira until chap 4 sry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-29
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-18 03:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11865834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hinarah59/pseuds/Hinarah59
Summary: In that short year Goro had known Wakaba, he found things he wanted to protect and things he had to sacrifice in order to do so.





	1. Chapter 1

 The day those men in black came to the house, the day Goro carried upon his shoulders for the rest of his life, was the day he realised just how twisted the government, the police - all of Tokyo, maybe - was. That day, they read Wakaba’s “ _ will _ ” out loud for both Futaba and Goro to hear, as if to ridicule, scold and bring them on a guilt trip. As if any of this “suicide” business was actually their fault.

 It was like they did not care that two kids had just been orphaned, one of which would not have been for the first time.  _ A burden, unwanted, the reason their mother killed herself _ , it was all bullshit that those wretched adult strung together to make sure they kept quiet. Kept their heads down and mouth shut like the obedient children they should be. The will was fake, Goro knew, and Futaba probably did too.

 It was Wakaba herself who convinced him he was not a mistake, that even if he was the result of one,  _ he _ was not  _ a mistake _ . Perhaps if the raven had not spoken from experience, he would not have believed it. He would have thought she was just giving words of comfort out of pity, would have dismissed her input as pretty lies meant to lead him on.

_ They were no such things _ . When she found out he was a bastard child, she only showered him with kindness no one else had. Albeit they started off merely for the benefit of her research and him for some income, he found a mother in Wakaba as she found a son in him. Eventually, she took him under her wing about half a year into her research.  _ Their _ research.

 Wakaba taught him to value himself more, let him know that why he was born did not matter, that he was worthy of love as much as any other person. Futaba, overjoyed to have new family, made him feel needed. All those years he spent hating, swearing vengeance against his father, all of it, he found was not worth so much as the people who taught him familial love. It was why he knew for a fact the will was fake, Wakaba would never talk about either child the way the adults had claimed.

 If anything, the scene was all too familiar to him; just a farce put up by selfish adults who wanted nothing more than that research Wakaba and himself had worked so hard on. It seemed that they did not know about himself, seeing as they dismissed him as one of her children. With heavy dread, Goro realised she must have kept quiet about his involvement to avoid his father, who was a rising politician then. It was also another reason why he knew the will had to be fake.

If the woman truly hated them, she would have outed Goro's involvement too. Doing so would bring attention to him and, suppose someone was interested enough, would condemn him for being a bastard child. It would make him repeat all those years Wakaba had tried to undo, and he would only be left to throw everything she said and did for him in the trash as nonsense and lies. Instead, she did not, and that was good enough for him.

 However, for Futaba, it was not so easy to dismiss as a lie. It must have been unfortunate timing that Wakaba had snapped at the girl days prior, making the will all the more credible in her eyes. She did not know about her biological father, not that Goro would tell. It was a secret the boy himself wanted to keep, knowing the hollow suffering a grudge could bring her in years to come.

 Besides, even if the parents did not necessarily define the child, it was still a definition nonetheless. The researcher herself must have thought it was best to leave that definition open.

 Goro had just entered high school then; when Wakaba died. If not for his age allowing him to work , he and Futaba would have been under the Wakaba's siblings’ care. Some siblings they were, lusting over her legacy and buying the bullshit story that was her will. They could care less about some kids who supposedly “drove their sister to take her life”.

 Goro would sooner starve on the street than let them have their way with him or his sister. Luckily for the siblings, they were more than happy to be free of extra mouths to feed, but it did not stop them from getting their grubby hands on whatever money Wakaba had left behind. Namely, Futaba and Goro's inheritance. It was certainly a sum and Goro had initially wanted to just drop out of school to save it up.

 His plans changed when he realized the strawberry blonde would be less likely to enter school than himself so, for the sake of both of them,  _ he _ entered high school. His part of the inheritance could get him through both school and the rent of the cheap apartment they currently lived in. That being said, he would like to keep from using it up as much as possible.

 Therefore, he entered Shujin Academy as a first year, keeping up the “model student” facade he had rehearsed over his past years of schooling under horrid foster care. He kept up with his studies, teachers’ demands, maintained his distance from other students but with friendly enough terms, and was sure to keep Futaba up to speed with her own education.

 Even if the girl - now a hermit in the small closet of a bedroom they slept in - did not attend school due to her unstable mental state, it did not mean Goro was going to let her neglect her education. He lacked the resources for her syllabus of a middle schooler - his own books probably tossed into the trash after he was out of foster care - so he settled with topics a year ahead, filling the inbetweens as they went.

 Futaba was a quick learner so eventually, as Goro entered his second year, the girl was pretty much done with all of his past year assessment books and examination papers. However, the brunet felt that, like him, Futaba was only going along with the routine to distract herself from the tormenting seconds, she would otherwise spend, blaming herself for Wakaba’s death.

 He knows because they were always huddled close on the old single bed, sharing body warmth as the thin walls and loosely hinged window did little to keep the cold out. Sometimes, she would writhe in her sleep and, on worse nights, jolt awake with a shriek in cold sweat.

 There were times when she would curl into herself and sob into the sheets, “ _ I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, I'm sorry. Please, please, don't take him away too... don't, don't, please…! _ ”

 On nights like those, Goro would hold her head to his chest, stroking her hair, reassuring her of his presence and that he was not going anywhere. At the same time, he held back tears of his own. When it first happened, he had been petrified and could only hug her awkwardly, mimicking films the two used to watch together when Wakaba was around. It was a bad idea since it brought up memories of the past, so he had to make adjustments.

 Because of those recurring nights, the brunet was reluctant about working or going to school at all. However, he had to make ends meet. He bought her weekly manga on top of those she kept from back home, rereading volumes until the next release just to keep her mind occupied.

 If it kept her from losing her sanity, it was a small price to pay. Besides, he quite liked the books and films himself.

 Like this, they lived by themselves for about a year and soon, after barely paying off the rent for the shabby apartment, a man called Sakura Sojiro took them in. Once a government official, he retired in favour of the quiet life of being a cafe manager. Of course, there was more to it but Goro trusted him enough not to question it.

 If there was anyone he knew Wakaba trusted, it was Sojiro, since she used to speak highly of him. If Goro did not trust him, he trusted  _ her _ judgement, at the very least.

 Apparently, the man had taken this long to get to them due to conflicting interests with Wakaba's siblings, which would have confused Goro had he been more surprised. He could only assume that they still had an eye on their inheritance and, Sojiro taking the two in meant that hefty sum was going into someone else's hands. Of course the their relatives did not want that.

 The brunet had been pretty upset afterwards when he found out Sojiro had promised a large part of Futaba's inheritance to ward them off. However, he understood that it was in the siblings’ best interest that they kept their relatives at a distance. Therefore, he bit his tongue and dropped the subject, not before telling their new guardian to take from Goro’s inheritance instead, as if it made a difference.

 With that, the two teenagers adopted the Sakura name and lived in said residence together. Even though Goro had his own room, it was mostly empty as compared to Futaba's own, with her growing collection of action figurines. The one similarity was the shelves being lined with manga, with Goro's having the addition of his present and past school books for his sister's future use.

 More often than not, the bespectacled shut-in would sneak under his covers at night when she was feeling lonely or afraid, or both. Eventually, Sojiro stopped complaining about the two sharing beds and Goro just moved himself to Futaba's room, fancying the decor there more than his own.

 They still resumed their initial routine; school, part-time work, tutoring and then some anime before going to sleep. Futaba remained a hermit, locking herself in her room while Goro and Sojiro were out, remaining there until Goro came home followed by Sojiro when evening came rolling in. In other words, she was in her room at least eighteen hours a day, including or excluding sleep.

 As Goro discovers, with no more rent and more disposable income, Futaba has invested - or Sojiro, actually - in more manga to read into the nights. In addition, she had her own personal computer to watch anime on so there were some nights where he would wake up to a bright light in the room instead of her screaming. Or at least, she was screaming for a completely different reason.

 That was good, he guessed, it meant she was spending less time being depressed. Her habits gave rise to another issue though; social anxiety. Thinking her mental state had improved, Goro and Sojiro had made an effort to take her outside but were ultimately faced with a screeching fourteen-year-old with a death grip on her doorknob.

 Eventually, the two gave up, Sojiro sighing kindly, “We won't force you, then. Although when you feel better, I'll be at the cafe waiting for you. I'm sure Goro would take you out anytime you're ready.”

 He remembered looking up at the elder then, eyes widened a fraction at Sojiro's perceptiveness. The brunet had suspected it himself; Futaba’s depression was getting worse, thus her increasing hours of binge watching anime and reading manga. She needed more distractions because that was how Goro had taught her to cope until now.

 Thinking back, it was probably not the best medicine but, really, what choice did he have while pressed for time and money as he had been?

 Soon, he entered his final year. Futaba still refused to leave the house, Sojiro ran the cafe as per usual, Goro went to school, then to work for the extra income, and then there was that...thing...on his phone. The  _ eye _ that he had settled to isolate on a page by itself.

 “ _ The Eye _ ”, as Wakaba and himself had not-so-creatively named it, had been left there untouched for the entirety of his two and a half years supporting Futaba on his own. Now that he was not so tight on cash and could afford a few days off from work, he was considering using it again. He remembered Wakaba's research, remembered how that world was the manifestation of people's hearts.

 Before, he had tried keying in Futaba's name, which had come up negative every time he got worried and checked. He had checked Sojiro for good measure but was relieved it also came up negative. Today, however, was different.

 As the application monotonously reported its discovery, he knew he had to get back into business. Whether he was equipped or not, he  _ had _ to see his sister's shadow and, truthfully, he should have checked in sooner.

 “ _ I'm so pathetic _ ,” he hissed to himself.


	2. Chapter 2

 It took a few days, but he soon discovered the keyword to access his sister's palace. As a result, however, he had been physically shut out of her room. It was not like he planned or wanted for it to happen but, they had gotten into an argument about their mother's will. Goro must have unintentionally risen his voice in an attempt to convince her. To convince his sister the will was fake.

 “ _ How would you know _ ?” she had screamed back at her brother then, startling him, “You... _ you wouldn't know _ ...you wouldn't know  _ anything _ ! How long have you even  _ known _ her? A pathetic  _ year _ ?”

 Words died in his throat, clogging it as he watched the girl's small, trembling frame. Before that, she had confided in him and said she was going to die there; die in the very room she had put so much love into decorating, die in the very space that probably defined her. He had meant to comfort her, but it seemed that his anger towards the adults overcame his patience and made him snap at his family instead.

 “If you don't think it's your fault, then fine,” she had continued, head bowed and avoiding eye contact as she dragged her feet back into her room, “ _ My tomb wasn't meant to be shared anyway _ .”

 Just as she slammed the door behind her, the Eye affirmed the key word in her last sentence and, before Goro could run up to his sibling’s door to make amends, the damned application promptly sent him into the unknown instead. Surroundings shifting from gentle lighting of the Sakura residence, the brunet whipped his head left and right as he helplessly watched himself get warped into unknown territory.

 Below him, the cool wooden floorboards heated up and broken down into scorching grains. Over his head, the ceiling opened up to a blazing and glaring gaze from above. Still in his home attire of grey tracks and tee, a red hoodie over his shoulders and woollen socks, he observed his surroundings where he should have been surrounded by pale wallpaper.

 Vastly contrasting his own home, the constricted space had expanded into a dusty wasteland, cloudy afternoon outside had cleared into a sweltering summer sky, and the cool air conditioning leaking from Futaba's room had kicked high up into a heat haze. Almost immediately  _ feeling _ the difference, Goro hastily spied out a structure in the distance and dashed for it, kicking up scalding sand that mostly stuck to his woollen feet.

 While the brunet prided himself with his stamina and leg muscles, running through a desert was still insane, especially given his attire. He had no idea why he had been teleported into the middle of nowhere, why he still had not found an exit, or why he decided it was good idea to approach a pyramid; a structure housing the dead and preserved bodies of kings.

 He reminded himself that he should be looking for a “ _ tomb _ ”, anyway.

 Thankfully, he had not been as far away as he had initially assumed, the ancient structure being slightly smaller than whatever he had read off documentaries. He estimated about a kilometer or two since he arrived, now dreadfully aware of the sand between the thread of his socks and pants.

 He had not bothered to remove his hood, pulling it over his head instead to avoid being burned by the sun. He had his hair tied into a low ponytail, at the very least, allowing the sweat to flow down and soak into his shirt rather than collect in caramel locks at his neck. The fabric plastered to his skin but it was the least of his worries now as the sand beneath his feet quickly started burning again.

 With no less than a glance at the shade through what he assumed was an entrance, he hopped over desperately. He heaved a long sigh of relief as the stone floor offered immediate relief to his roasted feet, allowing himself to pull off his hoodie and let the sweat underneath finally evaporate into the atmosphere. Relatively comfortable then, Goro panned red umber eyes across his surroundings.

 The entrance was sealed, there were a few stone and wooden structures scattered about, several palms and a town - or something - in the distant surroundings. If Futaba thought her room was a tomb, then the pyramid had to be her palace.  _ As for the rest of her warped reality _ , Goro's gaze peered into the horizon of telltale civilisation,  _ perhaps she felt distant from society _ .

 The boy recalls the palaces he visited with Wakaba, namely his father's, and how palaces were likely born from an intense, twisted desire. After all, not everyone had them, and the ones that did were all disgusting adults by far. He remembered hearing the rumour at his school about a certain volleyball coach, telling Wakaba about his discovery over the application just before her untimely death.

 The two never got to explore said palace together but the presence of a palace was all the confirmation Goro needed to keep his eyes peeled around the ugly mop of a teacher. Apart from confirming his suspicions, the student never had the chance to properly investigate since he was hardly equipped without Wakaba's connections available.

 He had tried infiltrating the place with just his persona, but inevitably found himself drained and barely escaping death. At most, he confirmed that he was indeed treating his students in the volleyball club as slaves. As for his other suspected crimes, Goro could only imagine the evidence was deeper and higher up into the castle of a palace that was the man's sick mind.

 The brunet hated to be so powerless when others were suffering, but he could not afford another slip-up like that one time with Wakaba. If the raven had not been framed a murderer after her death, she likely would have were she alive. After all, it was in her research notes: Death to one's shadow meant death to their body in the real world. She would not be able to write that if she had not witnessed it herself.

 Goro swallowed the lump in his throat, pushing down the relief he had felt that that specific palace owner was just another insignificant civilian; his death was passed off as failure in his health despite the gruesome imagery. Shaking his head, the boy willed himself to focus on the problem at hand.

 At the moment, he was locked out of the castle. Not just that, he was not in his “outfit”, so he did not have a mask to summon Loki with. Even if he could, using the monochrome Persona left his mind in a whirl more often than not since, as he discovered during Wakaba's research expeditions, Loki was most powerful when Goro was angry.  _ Loki responded to his wrath; it was what it represented _ .

 Using Loki left him in a high, of sorts. Or perhaps it was Loki feeling that high and responding to it instead. After all, when Goro felt particularly aggravated by palace owners, his Persona proved to be faster to respond. Stronger.  _ Scarier _ . The first time he allowed wrath to overcome him, Wakaba had been prompt with talking him down and leaving immediately. They had not been so fortunate the next.

 Back then, the researcher’s job allowed her access to a variety of weapons and gear for field research. Goro wondered if she regretted handing him the gun that marked his first victim and killed him. He laughed bitterly as he thought back, how the palace had instantaneously crumbled as if to bury his guilty ass. It took awhile before Wakaba let him use guns after that.

 Every expedition, he would be armed with a gun and, after several close shaves, he was given a sword to ward off shadows at close range. Also, to preserve bullets and his psyche. The cognitive world already took a toll on one's body, requiring time to get used to, using a persona was the same but took more conditioning before it came naturally.

 This was completely new to him; not being considered a threat thus having no costume, not being armed with weapon or Persona, being completely helpless in general. The boy ground his teeth together, running a hand through his drenched locks as he allowed himself to slide down against the sandstone wall into a sitting position. This was likely reflective of Futaba's cognition of their current relationship; a family squabble requiring space to be maintained.

 A.k.a. Futaba locking Goro out.

 Seeing as he would require more time rethinking his plans, the brunet fished out his phone and left the cognitive world. As he did, he found himself returned to his original position outside of Futaba's door again. He tried the knob and, sure enough, it did not budge. There was no response to his fidgeting with the door either so he assumed his sister was either ignoring him or busy on her PC.

 With a dejected sigh, Goro made his way next door where his bedroom, which he had not been sleeping in for months, was to get some studying done. As he walked into the dull space, his eyes trailed over to the top of one of his shelves of manga and spotted a discarded toy saber. Next to it was a raygun. Absently, he reached up for the two items, thinking Futaba had left it with him when she still had to sneak into his room.

 His mind wandered to the time Wakaba theorised that if one were to believe something is true, then it would become so in the cognitive world. They never risked applying it to their equipment but otherwise the theory held true. So, that left the brunet with a hypothesis; anything perceived to be able to do harm  _ will _ do harm. He twirled the toy gun expertly within his grasp and swung the saber experimentally.

 Fleetingly, he wondered if he could put them to use.

 

 Kamoshida’s guards were relatively weak; definitely  _ much _ weaker than the dogs in Shido's, but were still strong enough to kill him, unarmed and winded as he would become eventually. Clad in his dark stripes, belts and chains, Goro tried to ignore the literal, glaring difference between his costume and equipment. He could only pray that enemies still took him seriously at least.

 Going through the usual procedure of summoning Loki and striking a weak point, the boy behind the black mask brandished his weapon and pointed his gun at the vulnerable enemy. At the sight of the enemies’ helpless expression and desperate pleas, Goro quirked his lips slightly in amusement although his victim must have thought it malicious.

_ Didn't matter _ , the boy thought with renewed confidence as he pulled the trigger, putting a beam of light through the shadow’s head.

 He proceeded through the halls with light but quick steps, shooting at enemies’ masks to startle them before dashing up with his sword to promptly knock them down. It was with childish thrill that he mimicked his favourite heroes and “charged” his blade before landing a devastating blow.

 With his momentum going, he found himself breezing through the halls and eventually finding himself at higher floors and, apparently, confirming more rumours. As if the pillars of girls’ derrieres and thighs were not implicating enough, Goro had to walk right into a pink room of half-naked girls squirming and moaning on the castle’s stone floor.

 Instinctively, the student scrunched his nose and twisted his lips into a grimace. The girls did not seem to notice him, not that they had faces, let alone eyes to see him. If he had to guess from what little they were wearing and the trend thus far, these girls were from the volleyball club. With that, the boy had confirmed all his suspicions but without any way to use the information against the asshole ruler of the palace.

_ You could kill him _ , he heard Loki suggest cheekily from the back of his mind but willed himself to ignore the voice. By no means was his Persona joking, that much was evident to the Persona user himself. Loki was his wrath, and it knew he was angry with the volleyball club's and his own circumstances,  _ it could feel it _ . Goro knew better than to give in to it completely, as he had found out the hard way.

 Just as he heard boisterous chatter from outside the door, he made his swift escape.

 

 So then, he attempted to enter Futaba's palace again, this time with his newfound weapons. However, as the girl would have it, the boy was still of no threat to her, thus his gun shot no light and his saber remained dimly lit under the blinding sun. He had to find the girl's shadow somehow, get her to talk to him if she would not do so in the real world.

 As it turned out, it had been almost a month since the girl first locked him out. Apparently she only came out when Goro was in school or at work, in which Sojiro would be the only one to see her and give her food lest she starved in his house. He had to say: he was not used to being so openly  _ avoided _ . He was used to being constantly  _ approached _ , heck, even  _ followed _ .

 He remembered back in middle school, he had been popular among teachers and students alike for a good half of his school life there. Then, someone decided to dig for dirt about him and spread it about, ultimately ruining his reputation. He assumed someone spited him for his popularity, a jealous bunch teenagers were, and successfully pulled him six feet under.

 Goro lived through the rest of the years being shunned until he met Wakaba and entered high school. If the lovesick chatter about him was anything to go by, the brunet was relieved no one from his previous school recognised him. A pair of nonprescription glasses really did wonders to hide one's identity, although he had to wonder what about it still made him attractive at all.

 He let his hair grow out until his shoulders, as compared to his shorter and more appropriate hairstyle in middle school, to hopefully make himself unrecognisable especially after wearing glasses. He had not considered the look to suit him at all. If anything, he thought he looked quite ridiculous. Maybe it was because he was unused to it himself? The girls at school seemed to compliment his hair a lot, so perhaps girls nowadays liked guys with longer hair?

 The brunet sighed in resignation. He could never understand the taste of the girls in his school, although the attention was not unwelcome. He would never quite admit it, but he did like being a celebrity; the centre of attention, showered with love and praise. He would never admit it because it made him sound needy, something he was constantly told that he should not be given he was a bastard child whose own parents did not want him.

 Goro pushed down the bile that rose to his throat, blinking away the moisture behind his eyelids as he ventured his sister's palace one more time.


	3. Chapter 3

 It seemed that the star player of the track team fought back against Kamoshida. Goro had to wonder if he was lucky to witness it, or not. While the spectacle proved to him that the first year was in actuality not in the wrong and that it was the asshole of a coach that provoked him, it did not change the fact that his word did little to move the teachers.

 Everyone among the staff were on Kamoshida's side; even a model student like Goro himself did not have quite enough credit to go against him. He tried approaching Niijima Makoto, the new Student Council President and sister of a prosecutor, thinking she might help him investigate. Unfortunately, but understandably, the girl could do little without damning evidence against the teacher.

 Goro had no such thing apart from what he had seen in the cognitive world, it did not help that his camera functions did not work there. Even if he witnessed Kamoshida and the ace track runner clashing, it was poor defense for the boy - now considered a delinquent - if his own teammates shunned him for retaliating.

 Again, the feeling of helplessness welled up inside the brunet, making the Persona in his head taunt him endlessly as it seemed to take aim at the back of the man's head through umber red orbs.  _ If I just put a beam through his skull - doesn't matter if it was here or the other world - so many people could be free _ \-- but Goro forced himself to blink, clench his teeth as he willed his bloodlust back into the depths.

_ He can't, he can't _ , he repeated through his hazy mind with his nails digging into his palm,  _ Wakaba...his mother would surely be disappointed in him. If she could lift the death sentence from the very man that doomed her, then Goro had to try. _ As frustrating and aggravating as it was to leave the menace alone for longer, the brunet had other things to worry about.

_ Futaba...Futaba, Futaba… _

 

_  ...Masayoshi Shido. _

 As Loki would have it, Goro's attempt to empty his mind had instead led him all the way back to his Persona’s birthplace; the source of his wrath, the Diet Building. He had only noticed where he had taken himself when he finally tapped the Eye, cladding him in black, chains and buckles, as the ambiance whirled into waves of foreboding that was the waters drowning the city around him.

 With practised stealth and revised navigation, Goro got himself updated on his biological father's activities. He had attained a new ally in his dealings, assassinated several more minor but obstructing figures through bribing the police to overlook the evidence pointing to them. The most the brunet could do was take down names of accomplices; Madarame Ichiryusai, Kaneshiro Junya, Okumura Kunikazu, a politician called Ooe, a formal noble, a TV station president, an IT company president and a Yakuza cleaner. Hopefully, they would be of use later.

 Unfortunately, assassins were not named. Probably, they were some random professionals with names not significant enough for these men on high horses to remember or mention. They were puppets strung by money. Goro hated to think that he had a plan years prior that had him play as one of them, working for Shido only to backstab him later.

 All the more reason to honor Wakaba's love and sacrifice by keeping tabs on his temper, lest he murdered a second time. It left a bad taste in his mouth that he could get away with murder scot-free, but he had his goals. Perhaps he promised not to seek vengeance through murder, but he made no promise about giving it up altogether.  _ Sorry Wakaba, Futaba, Sojiro _ , he promised to apologise.

 That being said, he was certainly put into a spot. If there was a way to eliminate the evil without murder, then he would have taken it long ago. However, it seemed that the cognitive world was a mere mirror of the real world. It reflected truths, but only to the people with the Eye. The rest of the world was blind to it, all Goro could do was be wary and investigate things himself.

 It was not doing him any good; it was doing more  _ harm _ than good, anyway. His investigations were only spurring Loki on, making him angrier and more helpless with his hands tied by his promise to Wakaba. Sometimes, he wondered if it was really worth it, keeping that promise. However, there was a better part of him; a part of him that did not _want_ to kill either.

 Not because of a promise, but because that little voice warned him that murder made him no better than the man who wronged him. Masayoshi Shido was not worth Goro's humanity. If it was not the promise he made that was stopping him, it was Wakaba herself. That voice, Goro wondered if it could have been Wakaba’s herself.

 As if convinced and satisfied, the brunet heard the taunting die down in his head. The laughter was still there; Loki was still there. However, somehow, he was different. At the moment, Goro could not think much of it. A loud bark sounded from behind him, then alarms blazing from all around. He sprinted for the exit.

 

 Dropping his notebook of names on his desk, Goro decided he had done enough for the day. He missed work, had a pile of assignments to do, and another attempt to talk to his sister was in check. He could finish his schoolwork within half the time offered so he could slack on that a bit and work the next few days. As for Futaba, he was having little luck in the cognitive world so he had to try again with the real world.

 As he suspected, however, there was no response to his knocking although he could have sworn that the tapping of keys had ceased the moment he approached. Futaba must have heard him coming, in which case, she was wary of his presence so much so that she would keep her headphones off. That, or she had a camera somewhere outside her door to see him coming from a mile away.

 Goro may not have been a technical expert, but he knew code when he saw it. A little before Futaba locked him out, she seemed to be working through codes and, when the brunet shifted to indicate he was awake, she would hastily open another window. He had no clue what she could possibly be hiding the first time, having truly only just woken up. However, her hiding anything from him was new in itself.

_ Perhaps she was getting so anxious that she needed to have eyes where she wouldn't usually _ ? If that were the case, then the only thing Goro could be sure about is that she was at least still alive and kicking. Her depression being so bad that she had a palace, on top of it being a  _ tomb _ , the brunet feared his sister would take her own life as his own biological mother did.

_ Then he would be left behind again… _

__ The boy shook his head, unpacking his bag hastily for his pencil case and worksheets the moment he arrived at his desk. The names on his notebook were in his mind, noting to himself that the number of important figures present on Shido's ship was now dangerously large. With the man being an increasingly prominent public figure, Goro did not doubt that security around Shido both in and out of the cognitive world would increase.

 In that case, the brunet had no choice but to lay low for awhile. He was by himself in that world; no researcher close behind to patch him up enough to escape, no extra eyes behind him to keep lookout, nor the overall comfort of having someone know you were dead at all.  _ Damn, stop being depressing _ !

 The brunet groaned as he ran a hand through his unkempt hair of caramel locks. He usually tied it up when he went out, without his glasses, hoping to look different from his student self when he worked part-time at various locations. He generally worked at places with a favourable environment for himself, since most jobs available to a student were around the same pay.

 So far, he busied himself with being a florist on Fridays and Saturdays in the evening, and a bookstore clerk every other afternoon or evening when he had nothing important to do. He would not openly admit it but, he had considerable interest in floriography. He was not ashamed by it, not really, just that it contrasted his mild distaste for romance novels.

 He liked mystery and action novels, manga and anime, sure, they had romance in them. However, he did not really like it when a romantic relationship was forced to be the main focus of the plot. Regardless, he did his reading if not for some form of a conversational topic. It helped him as a bookstore clerk so he could not really complain. Not to mention how it expanded his horizons in general, he supposed.

 

 As his third year in Shujin drew ever near, he found himself glancing up at a rather exasperated Sojiro who had just entered the dining room after a phone call. They were having omelette rice that night, hoping to add a bit of diversity in their meals lest the kids one day grew sick of their beloved curry. Not that Goro could imagine that ever happening but, with another mouthful of omelette, he was fine either way.

 The boy could not help but frown as his adoptive father sat at the table with a tired sigh, and asked, “Was it uncle?”

 “No,” Sojiro chuckled at Goro's darkened expression, dismissing it as he dug into his rice, “Just some regulars needing a favour.”

 “Favour?” the brunet asked critically, not liking that word one bit.

 The elder sighed and waved a hand to indicate it was nothing major, or so he hoped, and explained, “They have a friend whose son just got sued by some big shot. From what I heard so far, it's obvious the kid stuck his nose into adult's business which got himself busted.”

 Sojiro did not meet the boy's gaze, so Goro could only glower down at his half eaten dinner. The man continued to elaborate; saying that the kid punched a dude harassing a woman, and was then accused by the woman herself that he was assaulting the other. As the story drew to its conclusion of the boy thus going on probation, Goro was fuming.

 It hardly showed on his face but when his guardian asked if he was doing okay, his plastic smile was more than enough confirmation. Knowing him for these few years, Sojiro grew to learn that the boy's gentle, crescent-eyed smiles were just a facade to hide whatever emotions that lingered underneath. A defense mechanism.

 It was even harder to break through than Futaba's security on her door, practically indestructible from years of hiding his status as an orphaned child. While he was officially under the Sakura name, they had yet to make the changes known to the school since they were afraid it would confuse teachers and classmates from his first year.

 The real reason, however, was that a change in his family name meant that he was unwanted by another family before. It would dig into his past as an orphan and, given his popularity at school, might even bring him through another round of his middle school experience. Sojiro had guessed that much, Goro told Futaba himself, and so it was a unanimous decision to call him “Akechi” outside the house.

 Sometimes, again before Futaba locked him out, his sister would joke that “ _ the day she left the house on her own, was the day he stopped using his biological mother’s name _ ”. He supposed it would not be too long before she did then. After he graduated high school, it was inevitable to be registered as a Sakura now that it had been official for a while.

 Back to the present, Sojiro briefed him about the boy's probation; about how the elder was going to be his probation officer, how he planned to just let the kid stay in the attic of the cafe, and that if he caused any trouble, it was straight to juvenile hall. While Goro understood that a probation officer was expected to be strict, he could not help but feel a tad sorry.

 Not that he knew what kind of person the kid was - other than having the guts to punch a shitty adult in the face - but he still thought Sojiro could at least afford to clear the attic if that was where the guy was going to stay. It was not just the pitiful state of the attic bothering him either.

 The guy was going to Shujin Academy on probation.  _ His _ school, the school with the scumbag of a coach called  _ Kamoshida Suguru _ and no shortage of students who just  _ loved _ to gossip. It was a terrible place to start, what with the two-faced prick already having a reason to put the kid on his shit-list. The man had more authority in the school than he deserved; the principal spoiled him like a baby, the teachers looked up to him like a deity and the parents could care less as long as their kids were guaranteed success afterwards.

 Goro wanted to help, yet he did not want to risk the guy being a snitch and expose his history of being a bastard child like back in middle school. It was not like he did not avoid the cafe already, he promised Futaba that he would only go there when she did. However, he was curious about the guy's circumstances. He wondered why the woman Sojiro mentioned would help the man who harassed her instead of accepting help.

 The man who sued him must have been someone with the police on leashes. Someone powerful with authority. He could not just ask though, could he? Sojiro said that it had been night time, the kid probably would not even have seen his face. Besides, it was not like he had the power to undo the stain on his record and prove it was a false accusation. With that, Goro settled with observing the “criminal” as a wary schoolmate, as he suspected most of the student body would be in about a week, before making a final decision.


	4. Chapter 4

 As he had predicted, the transfer student was the talk of the school. Kurusu Akira, as he discovered from Sojiro the night the boy arrived, was from the countryside where his parents kicked him out for probation. Neither guardian nor ward knew the details past that but from what Goro  _ could _ tell so far, the kid did indeed  _ have nerve _ .

 Not only did he have the gall to be late on his first day, he had acquainted himself with none other than the former ace of the track team, Sakamoto Ryuji the “ _ delinquent _ ”. The raven really must not care for his reputation if he got into trouble  _ this _ quickly. He remembered how Sojiro had groaned over dinner about how soon he might have to ditch the kid.

 That aside, he saw Kamoshida and that foreign girl, Takamaki Ann, come to school together that morning. No doubt the man was trying his luck again this year, having not been successful the previous. Goro had to admire the blonde for holding out for so long, although her actions seemed to be worsening the state of the teacher's cognition.

 Having decided to play safe and refrain from visiting Shido's palace, Goro had instead spent his time monitoring other palaces when he suspected that talk online or on the street was related to them. Since he was in school most of the time, he heard more about the mophead more than he would have liked. As such, he checked his palace quite frequently.

 An increase of prisoners has been observed in Kamoshida's palace, as to be expected given the beginning of the year with the new batch of fresh meat to pick from. If the rumours he had helped spread about the volleyball coach did not deter the new first years, nothing would. All he could do from there without murdering anyone was keep them in his memory.

 As for other palace owners; Madarame still had that one kid under his “care”. Goro still could not quite get to Kaneshiro, but the ATMs were quite telling of his activities, and then there was Okumura with the scan that he could not get past. The latter two were a lost cause so Goro eventually cancelled them out from his future plans. In the meantime, he might as well try getting information elsewhere.

 

 “Need help with those?” Goro asked generously, already moving to push the wheelbarrow of soil to their designated place where a certain heiress with fluffy locks smiled gratefully, “I'm surprised you haven't built enough muscle of your own with how frequently you do this.”

 The girl giggled behind her hand, “Who knows? Maybe I'm not using them just so you would come to my aid,  _ Aki-kun _ ?”

 Okumura Haru, heiress to Okumura Foods and the object of bargain where shareholders were concerned, was one of his few closer acquaintances. They were in the same class during their first year, of which Goro had already known about her father during the time of Wakaba's research.

 She started calling him “ _ Aki-kun _ ” just weeks into their friendship when she recognized him at the flower shop with his name tag stating his name as “ _ Ake _ ”. He only did it to differentiate his outdoor identity from his school one, but he should have known he would not fool a lady like Haru who peered through professional masks on a daily basis.

 While he had approached her to gather information about Kunikazu, he instead found himself quite taken by her knowledge on gardening. Particularly, he expressed great interest in her teaching him how to grow flowers. In return, he would lend her his ears and labor.

 It did not go unnoticed to him that she had been reluctant to speak her heart out at first, unsure if his friendship was loaded with agenda. However, in time, she opened up and slowly, surely. Nowadays, she would joke about hiring him as her personal butler to help her with gardening. Although Goro got little to no useful information about her father’s palace, he found that he did not mind very much.

 After all, Haru was probably the only person who knew about the loss of Wakaba. One of the only few who accepted his sorrow as something he could express like any normal person. He really appreciated it.

 Although he felt bad for retaining information about how Wakaba was  _ not _ actually his mother,  _ had a sister and lived with her and his guardian _ , he felt that the fewer the people who knew about his private life, the safer he was. Haru was no exception, no matter how dear of a friend she had been the past three years.

 All she knew was that he had lost his mother, whom he had claimed as Wakaba, and that he worked part-time after school to support himself. That much, he did not lie, since he did not take pocket money from Sojiro; outright refused any sort of allowance from him even.

 The only reason he was letting the man house him at all was because Futaba was there, and because Sojiro owed him that money he gave their uncle from his inheritance. The latter was Sojiro's excuse. The man had a soft spot for good kids in need, and cute animals, even if he was stubborn about the claim. He had even wanted to help with the purchase of his textbooks, stationery, clothes. All of which Goro had insisted to buy himself.

 The brunet was certain that whatever his ward had taken off his inheritance had long been paid off if he were to count rent, food, and Futaba's ever expanding collection of merchandise of her, and Goro's, favourite action series. However, Sojiro would beg to differ and the conversation would end there regardless of the boy refuting his opinion.

 Despite that being said, Sojiro was still paying their uncle money. Not only that, recently Niijima Sae had been visiting the cafe quite frequently for more than just coffee, according to Sojiro. The Student Council President's sister was persistent, trying to get Sojiro to cooperate with her on the case about Wakaba Isshiki and how it might tie in with the assassinations.

 In retaliation to his refusal to do so, she had threatened to bring him to family court where he would definitely lose custody over Futaba and Goro. It did not help that Futaba's uncle was extorting money under the same threat. The boy himself had tried confronting both the uncle and the prosecutor, with the former spitting in his face and saying he was only interested in his  _ blood family _ .

 As for the latter, he had chanced upon her leaving when he was dropping by the cafe to pass Sojiro some delivery at the house. From the man's exasperated expression upon chasing her out, Goro took his chances and tried to testify against the accusations he had been made aware of. However, when the prosecutor asked how he knew for sure, Sojiro had given him a stern glare.

_ Don't, it's not worth it. Let me handle it, _ it read.

 Goro could not understand why he would stop him from telling the truth, did not understand why Sojiro would rather deal with paying extortions from their uncle and threats under false accusations. The boy did not understand why he would rather deal with all  _ that _ injustice over Goro risking the exposure of his own involvement with Wakaba.

_ That was just it, though _ , he reminded himself, biting his lip and backing down from the lady in monochrome who towered over him with suspicion. The lie about how he only heard from Sojiro himself about Futaba was bitter on his lips.  _ Repulsive _ . As such, Niijima had sighed and deemed his testimony unreliable, brushing past him as she took her leave.

 

 “You’re going to get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that,” a gentle, yet determined voice spoke from next to him by the shelf in the Student Council room, “Do you want to talk about it, Goro?”

 Goro turned his head to face the brunette next to him, Niijima Makoto, the sister of said prosecutor who had been harassing his family. Not that he told her about it. He did not wish to complicate the sisters’ relationship any more than it already was. Makoto was his classmate, had been since second year, and they had grown to be friends over the books he recommended as a bookstore clerk.

 It was how they met; at the bookstore where the former Class Representative had asked for the shelf of a certain book. He was surprised then, and still quite baffled now, as to how she recognized him but was relieved when she agreed to keep quiet. Like Haru, she sometimes used his work name to tease him.

 Both Makoto and Haru knew about his part time jobs, Haru making him a better florist and Makoto adding recommendations to his booklist as a bookstore clerk. It really helped, both his job and his relationship with the two. He could trust them to keep information about his whereabouts secret, knowing how popular he was. In turn, they could trust him with a few burdens of their own.

 “There've been rumours about me two-timing,” Goro offered with a dismissive smile, “But you knew that.”

 The Student Council President could only groan softly, shoulders sagging bitterly, “I just can't believe they haven't  _ stopped _ . It's already been a  _ year _ !”

 The boy chuckled at her exasperated expression, recalling the ridiculous story about how Akechi Goro was dating Niijima Makoto behind Okumura Haru’s back. With how widespread the rumour had been for over that week, one would have reasonably thought the boy with caramel locks would have been found dead under a bush long ago. That was, if the rumour had been true to begin with.

 The model student was dating neither girls and honestly had no interest in doing so, to which the other two were quite content. If they had instead hypothesized that the three were in a polyamorous relationship, it would have been harder to debunk. Thankfully, no one was troublesome enough to suggest it.

 That aside, Goro did feel a  _ quite _ disheartened at the fact that he only had two friends. Both female, even. By no means did he have anything against women, quite the contrary, actually. Still, he would be lying if he said he did not want a friend who was male for once and, preferably, someone his age. It helped him none with how most guys would give him the stink eye for some petty reason like his popularity among the girls.

 He could imagine, though - even if said imagination was based off some fiction he read - that if he  _ did _ have someone like that, he would only bring them down. As it were, Goro spent little time hanging out with anyone and the only two people he  _ would _ hang out with were busy and equally inexperienced with this “hang out with friends” thing.

 If anyone decided to be his friend  _ now _ , they would have to run him through the “basics”, and Goro could only imagine how awkward that would be. With how much he desired a “normal” highschool friendship, he found himself almost envious towards the transfer student despite the ridiculous rumours about the bespectacled raven going around.

 The thing that he was more curious about was how no one talked about the cat that poked its head out of his bag every so often. Sometimes, he swore he could here corrigible sentences flow from its mouth too, but that was another investigation for another time. For now, he should keep his distance and just keep tabs on Kamoshida's palace.

 

 When Suzui Shiho jumped from the school rooftop, Goro could recall how his heart seemed to fall along with her as she made contact with the ground below. If he was being honest, he had already seen it coming. A  _ suicide _ , that is. However, it did not make the situation any less bitter on his tongue, nor lighter on his mind.

_ Suicide is suicide _ , successful or not.

 A girl had chosen to take her life. She could not bear continue with it after some good-for-nothing sullied her body and stole her innocence. He had no proof, but the implications leading until then were proof enough. Goro tried not to think about how he should have killed a certain king; shot him through his thick and empty skull, so that his schoolmate needed not make such a regrettable decision.

 The boy laughed bitterly to himself as he went back to class. He laughed at how he might have shot Kamoshida in the heart, if only the guy had one. Perhaps he could try slicing his ribs open to check-- _ stop, stop _ .  _ Stop it _ .

 Suzui’s attempted suicide would likely be all over the news by the next day.  _ Besides that _ , the raven living in Leblanc’s attic, along with his new friends, would be gone by next month. By some  _ incredible _ feat, the three boys had gotten themselves on death row  _ and _ had that information spread around the school before the day even ended. _ Sojiro was not going to like the news _ .

 Without further ado, Goro made his way out of school the moment the bell rang.

 

 Imagine his surprise when he spotted a head of yellow hanging out in the alley even after the threat of expulsion. Upon closer inspection, a certain raven was with him including a bright, blue-eyed black cat. Goro refrained from approaching as he subsequently spied a certain twin-tailed student linger just at the turn of the alley, supposedly to listen in on them.

 He had eyed them discreetly from the school gate pillar, especially when he saw Ryuji fish out his phone while talking about something. Stranger still, he looked to be talking to the feline more than his friend before him at some points. Not just that, he swore he heard another voice with them, higher pitched and was certainly not Takamaki Ann who had her lips sealed as she eavesdropped.

_ It couldn't be the cat, right _ ? By process of elimination, since the voice was too high to be the raven or the delinquent, too expressive to be the blonde attempting subtlety, then it left the feline with the striking blue eyes. If the cat  _ did _ talk, it could explain why the raven brought it around in his bag. It  _ could _ , but not necessarily.

 Knowing Sojiro, a cat would be the least of the man's worries since he liked the little fellas. In which case, the cat could very well have been left at the cafe or to its own devices in the area. Bringing the car around in a cramped school bag looked uncomfortable. Not to mention, a hassle. In any case, the cat was a strange addition to the group.

 Just as Goro was about to dismiss his suspicions, he quickly narrowed red umber eyes as he watched the quickly shifting scene. Stance suddenly retreating into defensive, Takamaki Ann widened her eyes in surprised just as she faded out into the surroundings. Not just her, but the three in the alley had disappeared as well.

 Assuming they had disappeared to where he thought most likely, Goro played it safe and waited just around the corner. If no one reappeared within the next ten minutes, he would activate the Eye, blinking ominously as ever, on his phone screen.


	5. Chapter 5

 It was only for a brief moment that the best friend of Suzui came stumbling back out of nowhere, before she disappeared again after fiddling with her phone. In turn, Goro looked down at his own.  _ Well, someone  _ did _ appear within his given ten minutes _ , but it did nothing to ease the worry bubbling in his chest. If Ann had been using her phone before warping back into that other world, then it was highly likely she had  _ that _ .

 Resolutely, the brunet followed his juniors.

 

 Unfortunately, Goro had only arrived in time to see the blonde get dragged away by guards, who must have mistook her for the cognitive "princess”. That would be the girl he saw shadow Kamoshida linking arms with, like a cheap whore the disgusting adult thought Ann was.

 Other than that, the boy mostly only came by to check the security; to gauge his wariness.  As of now, after the threat to expel three students, he would not be surprised by small changes, for better or worse.

_ He had to go after Ann quick _ . If the others were no longer at the scene, that meant they had gone ahead and just missed the girl. Meaning,  _ they did not know she was in the castle yet _ . Supposing the rogues of the school only came to scout the enemy, then they would be here for awhile.

 In that time, they may run into the blonde but, chances were, they would be prowling every floor looking for an opening. A loophole in Kamoshida's judgement, metaphorical or not. If Ann was being taken to where he thought she was, then time was limited. The way up to  _ that _ room was already a meandering venture; there was no quick and straight way up, especially with security.

 The only reason Goro would have little issue was because the guards were that much weaker than himself. As for the other three,or four if the cat counted, he could only hope they were subtle. Actually, he had to wonder if they even had their own by now.

 He himself may have awoken to Loki the first time he chanced upon Shido's Palace, but it had taken such a toll on him that, had Wakaba not passed by as he warped, he would be lost to the shadows. He had been infinitely fortunate to meet her that day. That said, he had to make sure no accidentally got themselves killed either.

_ Surely, they were not stupid enough to go in without having a way to fight back, right _ ?  _ If a real person died in the cognitive world, what actually happens _ ? Ann obviously had yet to awaken to a Persona, otherwise she would have made an attempt to summon it regardless of a costume.

 Goro placed his thumb and index to his chin out of habit, thinking as he scanned the area. Red orbs eventually land on the vent he had used for infiltration before, only that it was busted. The brunet frowned and sighed at the obvious entrance before jogging up to it and hauling himself up with ease.

 The troublemakers he was after could have just removed the metal like a plate from a rack, instead of likely kicking it in and irreversibly damaging it to never be utilised again.  _ Well _ , he supposed it was fine as long as the guards remained stupid as they were. Did it hurt to  _ try _ to be careful, though?

 Besides the point.

 Deciding it best to be as subtle as possible, Goro switched out his toy sword for a heavier, and supposedly more reliable, blade. He had grown so used to the weightlessness of his toy saber, so much so that the burden of rustic metal in his gloved hand almost felt dangerously heavy. It made him more... _ aware _ ...about his own intentions; what he was supposed to do. _ Rescue the intruders… _

 

_  ...or kill the king. _

 With an abrupt gasp, the brunet whipped around with his substitute weapon in hand, landing a loud and heavy slash through a guard.

 His heart beat rapidly as he collected his thoughts, berating himself that he was almost spotted due to his wavering attention. He could only be thankful that the cognitive armor the guards wore tore like paper under his physical blade. He would not have been too surprised with the saber, given what he knew about laser technology, but weapons in the cognitive world were judged by the owner of the palace.

 If they thought laser would slice, it'll slice. If they thought a rustic blade could slice, it damn well will slice.

 Finally catching his breath, he proceeded upwards. He had come across a few empty areas where he used to find guards, so he could assume the duo of second years passed through. There were shattered vases and statues as he went as well, no corner had a single valuable remaining except for locked chests.

_ Could it be that they… _ ? If they were able pick at containers so precisely, then chances were that someone had some kind of heightened sense as Goro himself did. It was how he got around palaces all by himself so far; knowing a guard is approaching without quite looking, seeing footprints on the floor trailing to some kind of secret, picking up on enemies’ aura and so on.

 Being able to use it in the real world was an unfair plus.

 Or it could be the cat’s doing. Goro was not particularly interested in the specifics of the impromptu team's precision of their navigation, but some answers may be of some comfort. Regardless, it would seem that he had arrived at his destination…

 ...just in time to see the captured princess slay the cognitive one.

 With her newly awakened Persona at her back, the blonde now in a red… catsuit... confronted the king threateningly. Shifting his gaze, Goro noticed a strange cat mascot and two other people clad in black. No doubt they should be that cat and the other two boys from before in the alley, the raven's get up looking quite suave if the boy did say so himself.  _ He was almost envious _ .

 Just then, a guard stepped between the intruders and the king, erupting into a black fountain that soon formed into a ridiculous monster. Some kind of purple demon sitting on a toilet bowl, but dangerous to the offenders nonetheless. He had seen the shadow before elsewhere, it was a first to see one here, so Goro considered helping from the side.

 Eventually, he deemed his help unnecessary as the shadow was promptly dealt with, albeit it could have been done in faster. Still, he had tabulated some useful data on his targets. It would seem that the group had only recently acquainted themselves with the cognitive world, seeing as it took that long to defeat the shadow. Goro could give them credit for the show at least.

 The brunet would be applauding their accomplishment, but the flustered king was quickly heading his way in an attempt to escape, cursing under his breath. Ann had crumpled to her knees as the adrenaline quickly left her, exhausted from her angry burst from before. The brunet, thinking better with the weight in his hands, backed away from the opening as the unsightly shadow of an unsightly adult scurried past.

 As he thought, the man was too shocked to even notice the boy behind the black mask. However, he was not taking chances to see if the other four would, so he followed suit and made his escape. He left the cognitive world just in time to hear familiar chattering a distance behind him, much too loud for people who had managed to infiltrate a palace.

 

 Goro had come home that evening without standing around to spy for longer, trusting that the team he had just investigated would not be up to much with their companion exhausted as she had been. Dropping his bag on his bed, he walked back out of his room to stand afront his sister's instead. He knew Futaba could see him, he could at least guess where she had put a camera, although he thought against confirming it.

 Why he chose to play clueless, he was uncertain himself. At this point, coming home to stand at the girl's doorstep had become some kind of ritual to him. He only did this when Sojiro had yet to come home, knowing the sad expression his guardian would wear when he saw the siblings so close, yet so far.

 “Futaba,” the brunet called out, his forehead and a hand pressed against the wooden surface, “What happened was not your fault, and I know you know that too.”

 As always, no answer.

 “Please,” he pressed his other hand to the door, raising his voice just a little higher, “Let me in. You don't need to be alone, I'm here for you. Please... _ I don't want to lose you too _ .”

 He held his breath, listening for any sort of shifting in the room. Before, he would hear a sharp intake of breath, as if his sister was suppressing sobs. Now, Goro figured she was becoming more conscious of the noise she made in her room, thus the absolute silence he was met with. It hurt to think that his own sister was only hardening her heart in his persistent presence.

 More than that though, he was angry. Angry at the adults who tried to fool everyone for selfish gain, angry at himself for being powerless against them, and so, so angry that he made his sister this way. However, he had to keep trying. It was not just to get into her palace, he had long given up on trying even if he still went over to check for changes.

 For today, he was done, so he leaves.  _ The click of the lock behind him goes unheard. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should apologize in advance: since I have major exams incoming, I haven't been able to play the game or watch full game plays so the sequence of events is quite messy in my head. As such, chapters will be coming out very slowly.  
> I'm so so so sorry D:  
> Thank you for the support the past week(it's not very long but it felt like forever), it really means a lot!


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